Abstract

The way of interpreting the Greek New Testament since the Reformation was done from different viewpoints. The focus was each time on another aspect: The source, the message and the recipient. However, all of these emphases brought different problems to the fore. The focus on the source was captured for dogmatic ends. The emphasis on the message challenged a field too vast and the accent on the receiver is until now mainly unexplored. Focusing on the recipient, the cognitive linguistic approach of Lakoff & Johnson in tapping the concept "body" was applied to Colossians. The results were in surprisingly incongruent with some classical or Greek New Testament dictionaries. In theory this means that current dictionaries are outdated with latest linguistic developments. In practice there might be a linguistic revolution looming for most languages. A recommendation was made that Greek grammar textbooks should take note of these developments.